Advertisers Use Easter to Hop Into Spring

Consumers plan to spend more this year than ever before on Easter, with many seeing it as the perfect way to transition into the spring season. Whether looking to do home improvement projects, purchase food for entertaining or spruce up their spring wardrobes, consumer spend for the holiday is expected to reach $17.3 billion. Retail is about to enter one of its busiest times of year and advertisers are seeing an opportunity to jump start sales with holiday promotions.

Marketers employ a variety of message strategies when targeting the Easter holiday sales period. Some go as far as to specifically mention Easter by name in the ad copy or use Easter imagery in their visuals. Kantar Media estimates $44 million has been spent from February 22nd – March 23rd on these kinds of Easter-themed ads. Close to 70 percent of this ($31 million) has come from retailers.

Sales, Savings and Deals

Within the retail category, Payless has been the top advertiser spending approximately $8 million promoting its Easter sale. Payless has used a mix of TV and digital telling consumers to “make hearts go bloom” with images of flower petals and feminine shoes. All of the Easter themed ads from Payless focused on ‘sale’ related messaging.

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Walmart also focused heavily on a ‘sale’ theme. The retail giant used Spot TV to promote “Big Easter Savings” and compared how its prices stack up to the competition in local markets.

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Straying from the message of savings, Walmart also included National TV in the mix with a campaign designed to tug at the heart strings. The commercial featured parents with a newborn having Easter dinner with family via video messaging and the tag line “The happiest moments in life don't always come from a cook book. They come from the heart.” In total, Walmart spent over $4 million on Easter messaging during the measured time period using a mix on TV and digital.

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The number three retail advertiser for Easter this year has been Burlington Coat Factory with $3 million in spend. Similar to its fellow top retailers, Burlington focused on the theme of savings and sales. Burlington used a mix of TV and Radio promote Easter savings and dressing the whole family on a budget.

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Kohls and Hobby Lobby rounded out the top five advertisers, who together made up over 60% of total retail ad spend targeting Easter.

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